luvdznee

We are currently booked in a spa balcony. If we bid on a haven cabin and accepted will we still receive spa privileges?

You will receive spa privileges only if you bid and upgrade to a "Spa" Haven Suite. All other Haven suites do not include spa access.

I know that bartender!!! She over served me a few too many in the Haven on Escape. :)

She is awesome!!!

That is Jelica...(I hope I'm spelling that correctly).And the other bartender is Razvan. They are both awesome! Love them!

We were in the Escape Haven the first week of October last year and the bartenders were Marc from South Africa and Emir from Montenegro in Eastern Europe. Marc is awesome, and is now the head bartender on the Escape and is no longer at the Haven. He is all over the ship. And I am pretty sure Emir is not Escape. Last I heard he was on the Joy, but not 100% sure about that. Branko from Serbia is also often at the Haven bar. He is on vacation at the moment, but I am keeping my fingers crossed he will back at the Haven bar when he returns, as we are hoping to be back on board in December. Branko is also fantastic! :)

Yes there was an evacuation. Someone in a Facebook group I am part of is currently on the Breakaway and he posted about the medical evacuation.

I know we are in the minority but, we just did not care for Cagney's. We gave it a try on both the Pearl and the Epic years ago and were very underwhelmed. After several cruises on Escape, we finally decided to give it another chance last month, and again, we were disappointed. It was our least favorite meal. For starters, the restaurant is very noisy and loud and the servers all seemed to be rushing and running around. Just not a great ambience for us. We both had the fillet and it was just "ok." Not bad but not really all that good either. lol Now, maybe we felt this way because when we go out to eat steak, we usually go to Ruth's Chris, Fleming's or Mortons and that is what we are used to. And sorry, but for us, Cagney's steaks didn't even come close. However, we really enjoy all the other restaurants on Escape. Everything from Food Republic (our favorite) to Le Bistro, Pincho. We even preferred La Cucina to Cagney's. I know that might sound like heresy to some on this board, lol, but that was our experience. :)

And yet another vote for Gian! He was our butler on the Pearl back in 2010, I believe. He was great! Our other favorites would have to be Naveen - Getaway 2014 and Escape 2015, Lanie (sp?) on Epic in 2011 and most recently Dilip, on Escape last week. :)

Thank you so much for the fantastic review and amazing pictures.

We have been lucky enough to stay in the Haven on several ships, but I think to this day my favorite Haven experience was on our 2010 cruise on The Pearl in The White Diamond Owners Suite. Our Butler was Gian and he was to this day the best Butler we have had on any cruise. He was a sweetheart and couldn't do enough for us.

And while I very much enjoy the private bar/lounge and restaurant for Haven guests on the newer ships, the courtyard area on the Pearl is still my favorite. I like that it is smaller and quieter compared to the larger pool area in the newer Havens. It provided a more relaxing experience, in my opinion. 😃😃😃

We have sailed on Getaway twice and Escape three times. Both are great ships and we had a great time on both. But..we prefer Escape because of Food Republic, Pincho and the Cellars Wine Bar. :)

I forgot to mention the bulgogi tacos! They are delicious.

All of the sushi, the crispy rice, kimchee rice, chorizo stuffed dates, duck and pumpkin dumplings, beef anticuchos, tuna pizza....pretty much everything....lol! Food Republic is fantastic!

Awesome video! Thank you so much for sharing. My husband and I were on the same sailing as you and your family also in a Haven Spa Suite. :) It was a fabulous cruise!

Though I have been a member of Cruise Critic for many years, I rarely ever post. However, I just had to come on here and say this is absolutely the most enjoyable review I have ever read. You seem like an amazing person and your personality comes through in every one of your posts. I am hoping we are lucky enough to one day to sail with you and Jerome. I am sure it would be a very fun cruise! I look forward to the rest of your review! :)

Agree 100% about Marc and Branko. I've cruised three times with them and watching them in action was always a treat. They both go on vacation at the same time and Escape's Haven bar will be back to just being a place to get a standard cocktail versus one of their magical concoctions!

 

Tracy

I like that - "magical concoctions"..lol.. That is exactly what their drinks are! I don't know what kind of wizardry they had going on and most of the time I had no idea what I was drinking. They prepared it. I drank it. Good times! :)

Branko and Marc, his partner in mixology, became one of the high points of the cruise for us. Branko is from Serbia, with a slow smile, a dry, ready wit and a calm, unruffled manner. Marc is from South Africa and is more of a live wire act, always chatting and bringing the fun. I don't know when they sleep - they are always at the bar working, although they tag team out for long breaks and someone else opens the bar in the morning. I quit calling them bartenders after the first day - they are mixologists. Your average bartender doesn't make his own blackberry liqueur, or help a peer work on creating a new drink for a beverage competition. They take their work seriously, but they have fun, too.

I had big fun playing "Stump the Mixologist." Basically, I would sashay up to the bar, describe my state of mind or mood, and demand a drink to match. Marc and Branko never let me down. I don't know half of what I drank, although they turned me on to a Gin Old Fashioned (by Branko - I hate gin, but I loved that - don't let anyone make you one but him.) I also drank Adult Lemonade, something that tasted like cheesecake, some icy blackberry concoction of Marc's that came with a metal straw, a champagne something, things that tasted better than the Rebellious Fish (it became the Envious Fish in my mind) and on one occasion in which I advised Marc that I had a headache but didn't want to take aspirin and what could he do for me . . . I don't know what it was called, but it fixed my headache right up and tasted divine.

The Haven really has the Best Bar Ever, and its patrons and mixologists provided some of the best times I had on the cruise.

My husband and I were on the sailing right before yours (April 30 - May 7th) and we were also in the Haven. I quoted the above only because I could have almost written that word for word! Marc and Branko were the best part of our cruise..(and Food Republic). We usually opted to spend our nights at the Haven bar over any of the parties out on deck or in other parts of the ship. We are also not big drinkers - we drink mostly wine. But thanks to Branko, I am now pretty much obsessed with Smokey Old Fashioneds. I just don't think any other bartender, or shall I say, mixologist, will be able to make it the same. At one point, I mentioned to Marc that I wanted to try Fireball as I had never tried it before and was curious. And he pretty much told me I could not drink that swill. lol. .He made me his own version of fireball with "real" whiskey. I don't know what was in it, but it was amazing. :)

We also loved Escape! Sailed in November of last year and are booked again for April 30th. Only 59 more days!!! Woohoo!!!

Hi there - we used Wheatley's Taxi Service: http://www.wheatleytaxiservice.com/Pages/default.aspx

 

They were easy to work with, on time and the van was very nice.

Thank you!!:)

Thank you so much for your review. We will be on the April 30th Escape sailing and are also considering taking the Red Hook ferry over to St. John. Which private taxi did you use to get to Red Hook from the cruise dock? Thanks!

Hey there. Tamie and I enjoyed meeting you and chatting over a few too many mojitos! I think we made mint and rum our dinner one night then a late night snack.... Hope your feeling better!

Hi! I really enjoyed chatting with you guys as well! I am already missing those delicious mojitos. I ended up trying all the different flavors! Thanks, I do feel a bit better. It helps that we were home and I was in my bed by 9:00 a.m. yesterday. :)

We arrived yesterday as well. We had a great time. Spent many hours at the Wine Cellars and absolutely loooooved Food Republic. We had four dinners and three lunches there. We were fortunate to stay in the Haven and had access to the Haven Restaurant, which is wonderful, but we still chose Food Republic most days. That is how much we loved it! Also, spent quite a bit of time at Sugarcane Bar enjoying the delicious mojitos and chatting with other passengers at the bar. We met many nice people. I came down with a cold on Thursday and was feeling rather lousy by Friday night and was very disappointed we really could not enjoy our last night on the ship. But all in all we had a terrific and relaxing, vacation. I am ready to go back! :)

We have a few favorites...Rodel, who we met on the Pearl in 2008. The following year, also on the Pearl, we ran into him at Star Bar and he remembered us! He recognized us first. Remembered our names. I found that quite impressive considering how many people he meets. We have since sailed on Epic twice while he and his wife were onboard and we have become friends. I stay in touch with her through facebook. Just great people! We also love Clarence "the Chocolate Cowboy" who we have sailed with on the Pearl and also Epic. And well, of course the infamous Bong! So much fun. Love his magic tricks. And last but not least, Julio Calix who we met earlier this year on Getaway. Great guy and makes the best Coconut mojito. We are hoping to see some of them, if not all of them in a few days on Getaway. :)

Thank you!!!! :)

Thank you so much for the great pictures! I am here at work and so wishing I was on board the Epic instead. We were also on the January 7, 2012 sailing and took Bernard's tour as well. I wonder if we were on the same bus?